


And There Is Something Coming In The Wind

by CherryBonBon



Series: And Something's Got To Give [2]
Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Dungeons & Dragons - All Media Types, Original Work
Genre: Gen, Nonbinary Character, Prophecy, Team Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:42:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25561513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CherryBonBon/pseuds/CherryBonBon
Summary: Late night conversations by the fire can be difficult, sometimes.
Relationships: Original Character & Original Character
Series: And Something's Got To Give [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1847296





	And There Is Something Coming In The Wind

**Author's Note:**

> One day Scylla won't be The Weirdest Fucking Thing but today is not that day.

Scylla and Korryn are on watch together, fire crackling between the two, and it is a pleasant silence. Scylla likes Korryn because there is no expectation to talk or share or reveal secrets. For a moment, Scylla can relax without worrying that anyone is out to find out what they know. Out to attack.

This never lasts, however. Not even with Korryn. Because if the person in front of them isn’t asking questions, then the discordant symphony in the back of their head is whispering. Whispers that someone is waiting in the shadows just beyond the fire’s light, something is out there on the hunt. Hunting for Scylla and only Scylla, out for blood and secrets and whatever is hidden deep in Scylla’s throat.

These whispers are, in a way, a good thing. They make Scylla vigilant at night during watch, aware of everything that’s going on and never being snuck up on. 

These whispers are, in a way, a bad thing. They make Scylla paranoid, on edge, and when they’re left alone with them for too long they take a dangerous turn.   
Scylla gets… sharper when paranoid, you see. Razor teeth take on a deadly gleam, and nails turn to talons turn to claws. If Scylla is odd looking normally, they look downright feral when frightened. 

And they are taking on this dangerous edge, turning sharp, while sitting at the fire with Korryn. They are both wrapped up in their head and danger and watching for said danger out around them. A low growl is rising up from their chest, into their throat and out their mouth, dripping out into the world like a fog. The growl is a physical form, sharp edged and thick, and Korryn can see it if she squints but it makes her eyes hurt on the inside.

“Are you okay?” Korryn asks just on the right side of forceful enough to snap Scylla out of it but not startle them into attacking. This is a practiced act. The growl stops and Scylla jerks up, back, nearly falls over before snapping their head to look at their friend. “You were getting a bit… spooky.”

“There’s something in the woods,” Scylla says, “I can hear it. Sneaking. Waiting. Watching. It wants–”

“I don’t hear anything,” Korryn cuts them off, eyeing the forest. “Do you actually hear it or are you being told?” Scylla doesn’t sulk, doesn’t pout, but does frown deeply.

“Told,” they admit. Korryn levels them a look that also levels their head, to a degree, and they get a little softer around the edges. A little more normal. A little easier to look at.

“Well I’m telling you there’s nothing out there.” Korryn finally closes her book and looks at Scylla fully. Never a good sign. “What are you thinking about? Other than what’s out there.” 

There’s a long pause as Scylla considers, both if they should answer and what the answer even is. 

“There is something coming, not in the woods. Something coming in the wind, in the breath of respite before the storm. There is horror and secrets and heartbreak.” Scylla’s voice is twisting, molting, less in the air around Korryn and more sinking into her brain like hooks. “And I do not know if I will get her back once it ends.”  
Korryn needs to take a moment to respond, both because of the information and because their telepathy is always unsettling to feel. Like slime oozing into the mind and scraping sharp against the skull. Korryn has to shake it off and hope they don’t do it again anytime soon.

“You shouldn’t listen to what your head says, it’s messed up from your weird messed up god,” is what Korryn ends up saying. And she’s right, but that doesn’t mean Scylla is going to listen. It’s hard to listen with the whispers screaming. 

“There is something coming in the wind,” they repeat but not out loud. “Something unknowable rising over the horizon. It wants to take the world, the _worlds_ , the existence of it all. It is too horrible to name but it is coming all the same an–”

“Focus on something else,” Korryn interrupts, ignoring nails on chalkboard in her head. “Tell me about Aello.”

“She is an angel sent from hell.” Their mouth doesn’t move as they speak, but their voice echoes behind Korryn’s left ear and squeezes her brain like a migraine’s pressure. “A savior in damnation. My last hope at redemption and the reason for my downfall. A sister for sister’s throne. A sister for a home. There is no hope for a happy ending when you make deals with something so old for something so young. Mistakes are made and forsaken and there’s is nothing left of sister’s tomb.”  
Korryn takes a moment to recenter, readjust, make sure her ears aren’t bleeding. And then takes another moment to try and parse out what Scylla’s saying. It doesn’t make much sense, but she can context clues it enough to respond.

“You didn’t make a mistake.” And this is either the right thing to say or the wrong thing to say because the pressure in her head intensifies to a point just to the right of her left temple. Scylla is staring at her with an intensity Korryn hasn’t seen since back at the school, and even then it was only in profile. Having that gaze focused entirely on her is… interesting. Not frightening, necessarily, but it does bring something with it. A force behind her, like whispers made manifest and curling around her until she can’t breathe. 

Maybe it is frightening and she just doesn’t want to admit it. No one in their group really wants to admit being frightened of Scylla, even silently. Somehow they’re all individually convinced this will make what goes on around the sea elf even worse.

“You did the best you could, you still are doing your best.” Korryn continues, surprised by how easy it is to speak despite the constricting feeling all around her. Scylla watches her for a moment before looking away and all at once the pressure goes away.

“I just want to go back to being someone normal.” Scylla picks up a rock and stands. “You know what it’s like, right? Being the only stranger in a room. The odd one out. No one else like you.”

“Yea. I do.” Korryn thinks back to school, thinks back to running, and understands Scylla a little more.

“I don’t want to be a stranger anymore.” They toss the rock between their hands. “I hate it. When I’m with all of you I feel a little more like… but the second I get comfortable with it, something happens and I’m scared again.” They throw the rock into the woods. “I don’t think I’m allowed to feel at home anymore.”

“Scylla—”

“I’m tired. Can you finish the rest of the watch without me?” They don’t wait for an answer, just turn and go into their tent.

Korryn doesn’t follow them, doesn’t try to stop them, just sits and thinks. If she focuses, she can still feel the effects of Scylla’s magic. The air bites when it shouldn’t, and hangs heavy on her shoulders. It doesn’t let up for the entirety of the watch even though Scylla has never messed with the world around them for longer than a few minutes. But then again, maybe it isn’t Scylla’s doing. Maybe they were right and there is something coming in the wind.

But maybe not. Maybe it’s just a trick of the mind.


End file.
